This painting is inspired by the Altadena Crest and Sam Merril Trails that lead to Echo Mountain, located in the Angeles National Forest above Altadena. Influenced by my love for hiking, the deliberate use of empty space in the painting creates room for contemplation and expansiveness, and is a reflection of my reverence for nature.

There is a quote I think of often, from Maggie Nelson's The Argonauts, about leaving enough empty space so that there is room for God to rush in. Nelson introduces this concept in a literary sense (inspired by Anne Carson), discussing that there is no use in a “center” in literature; that spaciousness and room to breathe is the thing to be desired. The thought stems from this concept in bonsai, in which trees are planted off-center within their pots in order to make space for the divine. That is the grace that I am trying to impart myself in this series of paintings. The graciousness of space— enough for God, the universe, intuition, consciousness, call it what you will— to rush in.